I have been wondering about this: Are dream characters people that we have seen before but don't remember (Like a random person you see in a crowd) or just randomly generated beings created by our subconscious? I am going to put some things to support each theory, and you guys can go ahead and share your thoughts.

Dream Characters from memorySome DCs in lucid dreams are people who you are know very well (Your siblings, your parents, your spouse, a very good friend) which would suggest that DCs are from memory. But would that also apply to random people you meet on the street?

Dream Characters from mindThen again, your subconscious makes dreams to keep your sleeping self entertained, so wouldn't DCs just be a part of the dream that the subconscious dreamed up to keep you from getting bored?

Well that's all I have (I did not have time to make a huge essay...) I want to know your opinions on this matter.

I think it's both and often you also get hotchpotch creations. But, of course, our mental models of the world and its illusory inhabitanta are strongly influenced by the real thing. What we are exposed to in waking reality plays a fundamental role.

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"Empty cognizance of one taste, suffused with knowing, is your unmistaken nature, the uncontrived original state. when not altering what is, allow it to be as it is, and the awakened state is right now spontaneously present."

I agree. I think it can be all of that. People we know, people we've seen somewhere in the past but we don't remember (faces in the crowd) and i also think it can be our creation. I say this, because, if i tell you to draw a face, you may draw a face you don't know but it came from your imagination. This can be in the dream also.

This was a question asked in the 1st issue of 'Ask The Experts'. It was question #1, so if you want to hear Rebecca Turner and Daniel Love's response go to:http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/ask-the-experts-december-2013.html

Here's my thoughts:I've seen so many faces in public places and on TV, I have no idea if they are memories or mix-matched creations, and there's no way to truly tell. A DC could be a person I saw on a bus 10 years ago for all I know. Since some dream characters have distorted features and look somewhat humanoid, I think it is actually a little bit from column A and a little from column B. They are probably a mix-match of facial memories. And I bet there is a large part of the brain associated with facial recognition since it's a big part of being a social human. I often get the impression of the face. I know the age, gender, and race, but I wouldn't be able to make a police sketch of them if I tried. Do you ever truly know every little feature of their face? The same goes for waking life when we see faces. I can spot a celebrity's face and recognize it, but ask me to draw it and I will be at a loss. (Not because I can't draw, but I simply don't remember the shape of Brad Pitt's nose or how large or far apart his nostrils are, the shape of his ears, and all the minute details. I simply don't know, but I can point him out in a police line up if I had to). To truly answer this we must understand the nature of how we remember faces in general when awake or in a dream.

Final Thought:If I had lived in a cave my whole life without any human interaction, or a mirror, would I have any dream characters at all? Or would a DC take the form of a sentient stalagmite that speaks?

"Empty cognizance of one taste, suffused with knowing, is your unmistaken nature, the uncontrived original state. when not altering what is, allow it to be as it is, and the awakened state is right now spontaneously present."

HAGART wrote:Final Thought:If I had lived in a cave my whole life without any human interaction, or a mirror, would I have any dream characters at all? Or would a DC take the form of a sentient stalagmite that speaks?

Haha, that would be funny, having stalagmites hopping all over your dream world.

The cave thing someone said. I think you still would basically dream of people as even if one was blind. one can still feel the shape of your body and hence know how a arm goes etc etc. But maybe then one could have talking cave parts in the dream more.. talking food or whatever.

It wasnt a lucid but one time I had a dream about a talking tornado.. it even had eyes but not much else in its features other then being a tornado. The tornado with its conciousness..was scary in my dream (came into a shed to kill people and then was targeting individuals by directing its lightnning).